Introduction: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether Nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS 2002) at hospital admission may predict postoperative mortality and complications within 90 days after elective liver resection for malignancy.
Material and methods: A retrospective cohort study of a prospective database was performed. Two-hundred and three patients with elective liver resection for malignancy between 9 November 2007 and 27 May 2014 were included. Clinical data, NRS 2002, surgical procedures and histology were recorded. The primary endpoint was 90-day mortality. Complications were registered within 90 days postoperatively according to the Clavien-Dindo classification.
Results: The 90-day mortality was 5.9% and the overall complication rate was 59.1%. Multivariate analysis identified NRS 2002 score  4 (odds ratio (OR) = 9.24; p = 0.005) and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score  3 (OR = 6.20; p = 0.009) as predictors of 90-day mortality. The 90-day mortality was 27.6% (8/29) for patients with both risk factors (NRS 2002 score  4 and ASA score  3) vs. 2.3% (4/174) for patients without or with only one risk factor (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: In the present study NRS 2002 score  4 and ASA score  3 were predictors of 90-day mortality after elective liver resection for malignancy.